Friday, October 26, 2007

Letter to Ayaan Hirsi Ali

The following letter of mine is in response to a broadcast appeal from the American Enterprise Institute in Washington asking for donations to help pay for Ayaan Hirsi Ali's security protection in Holland, to which this Jihad-targeted woman was forced to return by the Dutch government. Neither President Bush nor the State Department would do anything to help this brave, outspoken, and articulate fighter for freedom. Should any reader wish to contribute to her trust fund, there is enough information in the letter to facilitate a donation. Go to the AEI website for more information about the trust fund and about Hirsi Ali herself.

Enclosed please find a check made out to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust. An appeal was broadcast via the Harry Binswanger List (remotely and unofficially affiliated with the Ayn Rand Institute) with permission to forward it to interested individuals and organizations, which I certainly will do.

I have always been cheered by reading your comments on Islam, and also by your courage and strength when facing hypocrisy, cowardice and betrayal. At the same time, I was angered beyond description when our government refused to make an exception in your case and provide you with security when the Dutch government reneged on its responsibility. I was especially angered when President Bush received the Dalai Lama of Tibet but apparently refused to even acknowledge your existence, never mind offer to intercede on your behalf (even though your life is in danger). I suppose that was because you are an outspoken atheist. It was one mystic of the spirit honoring another mystic of the spirit – a mystic who is in thrall to another species of mystics of muscle (the Chinese government).

I liken your situation to that of Thomas Paine, who came to the American colonies in 1775 and wrote a pamphlet that helped to convince Americans that reconciliation with tyranny was a sure means of political suicide, of seeing their liberties first adulterated, then finally extinguished, that there was no common ground between freedom and force, and that the only practical action the colonists could take was to declare their severance from the Crown.

I could also liken your situation to that of Russian-born immigrant Ayn Rand, the novelist-philosopher, who came to America in the 1920’s to escape the “religion” of Soviet Communism. As Paine argued that there was no reconciliation possible between liberty and tyranny, Rand argued there is no reconciliation possible between reason and faith (and force).

You argued in the Reason interview that for Islam to be defeated, it must be defeated in toto. Muslims who want to live on earth for its own sake, and not just as a transit point to some (unprovable) “paradise,” must repudiate Islam and stop being Muslims. I couldn’t agree more. I have argued for years that Islam cannot be “tamed” or “modified” and still remain Islam. To defeat it, the air must be let out of all its tires, and then the vehicle towed to the junkyard of history.

There the similarities to Rand and Paine end. You came to America to write about the insidious designs of Islamism (or Islamofascism) and what was required to defeat them, but in the end were rebuffed and compelled to return home to a perilous existence. I did not learn of your return in the newspapers here; I had to learn it on the Internet. Well, most American newspapers showed their true colors during the Danish cartoon imbroglio. I cannot recall a single newspaper or TV news item that reported your “deportation,” either.

You are right that America is “in denial” of the threat of Islamism. It is difficult to decide if that denial is a consequence of thoughtless American benevolence or the destructive influence of political correctness and multiculturalism. Since I take ideas seriously, I come down on the side of the latter influence.

I hope AEI has some means of communicating this letter to you. And I hope you will take the time to read my commentaries on Islam and the jihadists on the Rule of Reason sub-site of the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism. I don’t think you will be disappointed.